


Playing in the Snow

by maddymayscrawls



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, I really don’t know what to tag, M/M, Post Season 5, Snow, Snow Angels, Snowball Fight, Teaching culture, VERY subtle pining, like so subtle that if you want you can read this as a gen fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 13:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17285018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddymayscrawls/pseuds/maddymayscrawls
Summary: Part of the Lotor Defense Squad Secret Santa.The Paladins take a trip to Earth to unwind after Zarkon’s death. Having no family, Keith takes Lotor to experience some of Earth’s culture.Not explicitly romantic. Feel free to read it as a ship or as gen, whichever works best for you.





	Playing in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wolfli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfli/gifts).



It was the dead of winter when the paladins landed in a seemingly uninhabited field on Earth. The team had decided to take a short break to allow the paladins to see their families. After all, with Zarkon dead and Lotor crowned the new emperor there was an extremely low level of danger and urgency for once. Even given that fact, though, it still wasn’t the easiest decision to make. There had been quite a bit of back and forth. Debate on whether it was the responsible choice, protest that it had been too long since they’d been home, met with the chilling truth that without Voltron they soon wouldn’t have a home to go back to, and then the idea that this could very well end up as the last chance they’d get for all they knew.

Shockingly, it had been Lotor who made the decision.

“We are going to be working closely together,” He explained when his declaration that they should go was met with bewildered stares, “It would only be right for me to become acquainted with your culture.”

The idea of this being somewhat of a diplomatic mission was enough to tip Allura to being in favor, and so after collecting Keith from the Blades they had set off toward the familiar blue planet.

They met briefly outside the pods they’d brought to discuss a schedule. They couldn’t stay on Earth for too long, and at least some of the time needed to be spent attempting to make contact with the Garrison. That was going to be a risky move at best considering how they’d captured Shiro when he landed, so it was decided that they’d get two days with their families before meeting back at the same location.

With that decided, the paladins set off in different directions. They were all in a hurry to see their loved ones….All except Keith. He stood leaning against his pod, arms crossed.

“Are you not going to see your family?” Coran inquired in a gentle voice.

“I don’t have one,” Keith replied flatly, “I came to help with the Garrison, not to see anyone.”

Coran and Allura shared a worried look, and it made Keith’s blood boil. He was about to snap about how he was fine when Lotor spoke up, “In that case, would you be willing to show me around your planet?”

Keith thought for a moment. It would be something to do at least. Save him from two days of sitting in a field doing nothing. He looked to Coran and Allura, “Is that ok?”

“Of course!” Allura clapped her hands together, “Coran and I will just be in the castle preparing what to say to this….Iverson fellow. You two go have fun.”

Keith shrugged, “Ok. Make sure you call if you need something. There’s no point in interrupting the others.”

With that, they were off. Keith wasn’t really sure where he was going, but being back in the blue skies of Earth felt amazing, free. He missed flying for the sake of flying. Everything was a mission these days, and all he wanted was a chance to spread his wings, both literally and metaphorically. He flew on for a while in no particular direction, high above the clouds. He didn’t realize how lost in the sensation he was until Lotor interrupted his trance.

“Where are we headed to?”

Keith blinked and looked down at his navigation system. They were over a body of water that looked to be a large lake, but other than that he couldn’t make out much about their location. The ship didn’t have Earth’s data in it, so he was essentially flying blind. He suddenly wished he’d paid more attention in geography growing up.

“Is there something in particular you’d like to see?”

“I would like to meet your strongest warrior,” Lotor said without pause.

Keith almost laughed, “We don’t really rank people by strength here. But I _might_ be able to fly over the capital. We can’t get too close, though, or they’d attack us.”

Lotor huffed, “Never mind. If I cannot meet with your ruler than I suppose you will have to show me whatever you consider to be common Earth culture.”

Keith wanted to protest that he was not the right person to showcase common Earth anything, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it. Instead he flew a bit more until he found a small city. He hoped the larger population would lead people to believe Lotor was just a weirdo in a costume. It wasn’t that uncommon after all.

He landed outside the city, concealing the ship in the closest thing he could find to a forest, and lead Lotor into the bustling streets. It wasn’t long before they were both shivering in their armor. He’d flown quite a bit north, and the January air was biting. Keith decided finding a place to buy clothes was the highest priority and began asking around for directions to a mall. He was glad he’d thought to grab the small amount of Earth money that had made it into space inside his pouch.

They got plenty of weird gazes as they navigated through the streets, but as Keith expected nobody bothered them. Soon they’d made their way into a clothing store that was nice but not too pricey.

It was comical, watching Lotor fawn over the human garments. He kept commenting on the impracticality. Nothing served as armor; it was a so flimsy his claws could rip right through it. He complained that some of the materials were uncomfortable, and questioned why anyone would voluntarily wear them. At one point he wandered into the women’s section and was appalled by how many items had holes _already in them._

“On Earth the general population isn’t concerned with war,” Keith attempted to explain, “They just want their clothes to look nice.”

“Ridiculous,” was Lotor’s only response.

In the end they both found outfits consisting of sweaters, jeans, and thick coats to shield them against the cold. Lotor had been less than impressed with the primitive insulation which still required layers, but it was better than his conspicuous armor.

When they left they walked down the street aimlessly. Keith was wracking his brain to think of what he could show Lotor to give him an authentic Earth experience, but was coming up empty. That is, until the first snowy flurries began to fall. He looked up into the great clouds as white flecks descended on him. He was in awe. He’d heard of snow, seen pictures and videos, but having grown up in the desert he hadn’t ever experienced it first hand.

When he turned to Lotor again he had to cover his mouth to hide his snicker. The powerful Galra prince was standing still as a statue, eyes wide as he stared down at where a snowflake had landed on his nose. His muscles were tensed as if preparing to run.

“Keith,” he said tensely, “There is half frozen water falling from your sky.”

He couldn’t help it. The laughter burst out of him, “Seriously?” He gasped out, “Out of all of the planets you’ve been to _none_ of them had snow?”

“Don’t be preposterous!” He snapped, suddenly able to move again as his hands went to his hips, “I’ve experienced….snow….before. And the people of the planet didn’t dare come out of their underground village because of it! How is it that we are surrounded by humans walking around as if nothing is wrong?”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Because nothing _is_ wrong. Like you said, it’s half frozen water. It can’t hurt you. A lot of human children play in it actually.”

“Play? But it’s so uncomfortable.”

With that, Keith had found his missing inspiration, “Why don’t I show you? We’ll have to travel somewhere that already has snow on the ground, but this is a part of human culture.”

Lotor considered briefly, “Very well. It could be an interesting way to pass the time.”

They flew further north, where Keith found a field full of snow drifts. There were cows off in the distance, but other than that it was just him, Lotor, and a blanket of white. It was peaceful, in a way. Quiet, like his home in the desert. Only this time he wasn’t alone.

“So what will we be doing first?” Lotor asked, kicking at the powder beneath his feet.

“First we…..” Keith thought for a moment. He really didn’t have any firsthand experience with this, so maybe it was best to start out simple. He settled on an idea, and allowed himself to fall backwards into the snow.

Lotor stood above him with an eyebrow raised, “We...throw ourselves onto the ground?” He sounded very doubtful.

“Just wait,” Keith said and began moving his arms and legs in sweeping patterns, moving the snow as he went. He hoped he was doing this right. It seemed simple enough. When he felt he’d made sufficient progress he held a hand up to Lotor, “Help me up. I don’t want to make a handprint.”

Lotor still looked skeptical, possibly even more so than before, but he lifted Keith out of the snow. Keith turned around to admire his work, happy with the results.

“It’s a snow angel,” he explained, “Uh...and angel is a mythical creature with wings that brings goodness to the Earth.”

“It looks like a Nukted warrior armed for battle.” Keith wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that was.

“Come on just try it. Kids have so much fun with it.”

“Well I’m hardly a child anymore.”

Keith rolled his eyes and shoved Lotor back into the snow. Lotor looked like a kicked puppy, staring around as if he didn’t know how he’d gotten there. He finally turned a half playful glare on Keith. “Lay down,” Keith commanded, and Lotor did so with a huff, “Now move your arms and legs.”

“This is pointless,” Lotor said, but mimicked Keith’s movements before getting a hand up.

“I think that’s the point,” Keith said, smiling at the two angels on the ground, “It doesn’t have a point. It’s just...fun.”

“Well what else do human children do? Surely this isn’t everything.”

Keith chuckled, “Oh, no, there’s plenty more. Like…” he reached down to scrunch some snow in his hands before lobbing it at Lotor, “Snowball fights.”

“Snowball...fights?”

“Yeah. You throw snow at each other. Sometimes people get really into it and make forts to shield themselves too.”

Lotor looked thoughtful, “So it is a combat training exercise?”

Keith briefly felt like burying himself in the snow, “Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.”

“Sounds delightful. How do we make these forts?”

In hindsight, Keith knew he should have proceeded with more caution. Instead, he showed Lotor a very basic wall structure built from snow. It was only a couple of feet high, but it was enough that he could duck behind it and develop a stock of snowballs. Perfect for a friendly game.

It was not good enough for Lotor. One wall, he insisted, did not a fortress make. And so he set off building his own. It took him hours to finish, and when he finally stepped back Keith was bewildered. He couldn’t even understand how Lotor had had enough snow. He’d devised an elaborate maze leading up to his 5 foot walls surrounding a squared area. Keith would have to fight just to get to Lotor, let alone hit him. Not to mention that now he was poorly defended in comparison.

He had to take his time building his own system of walls. He made them varying heights, staggering them around him. It would serve to shield and hide him at the same time.  They then took time to build up ammunition piles. By the time they’d finished the sun was setting and they were both worn out.

“Truce until tomorrow? Keith asked. He wanted to get back into the pod and out of the cold.

“I suppose that is a decent plan,” Lotor conceded easily, and they retired to the pod, eating some emergency rations before falling asleep in their chairs.

The next day was a flurry of activity. They finished gathering snowballs before launching into their war. Keith maneuvered through his walls, attempting to lob his snowballs over Lotor’s fortress so he didn’t have to penetrate it. It worked for a while, especially with Lotor struggling to locate him long enough to make a hit.

After a while the one sidedness was boring, though, and Keith began popping up without ammo to taunt the Galra Emperor.

“That all you got?”

“Hey I’m over here!”

“Whoops missed again!”

He could see the anger and frustration growing on Lotor’s face. At this point he’d lured him to the outer rim of his labyrinth. Just a little more…

“I really expected more from an _emperor…”_

And Lotor was charging, tearing down walls as he went, heading for the last place he’d heard Keith’s voice. Keith found himself laughing so hard at the display of anger that he wasn’t prepared to defend from the snowball that smashed down onto his head. From there they engaged in close combat, hitting with almost every bit of snow they threw. After a while it even seemed that Lotor’s anger melted away and he started to enjoy himself.

When they’d used up all of the snowballs they kneeled panting on the ground. Keith looked up and smirked at Lotor, “So? Still think playing in the snow is ridiculous?”

“It is not without its merits,” Lotor was smiling, telling Keith exactly what he needed to know.

“There’s one more I haven’t shown you. It takes a lot less running though.”

Lotor quirked an eyebrow, “Oh?”

Rather than explain, Keith guided Lotor through the motions of making a snowman. Starting with a small snowball and rolling it bigger, repeating this three times. With their combined Galra strength they were able to make them larger than normal, and Lotor’s height made it easier to stack them. When Keith started searching for twigs and rocks Lotor started to question his actions, but he just shook his head and told Lotor to wait and see.

When they finished Keith stood back to admire their work. It was no Frosty, but he thought it was a good attempt.

“So...what is it?” Lotor asked.

Keith took a deep breath, “You can’t tell? It’s a person. We call it a snowman.”

Lotor hummed thoughtfully, “I may believe you more if….” and then he was back to working on the snowman. He packed in more snow, shaved some off. The twigs and rocks were thrown to the side. Keith huffed, but decided to watch. It slowly started to take shape, leaving Keith more and more impressed. By the time Lotor stepped back they were looking at a fully formed snow statue of Allura.

“Wow,” Keith breathed out, “You’re...good at that.”

“Thank you,” Lotor said, looking smug.

“Why Allura though?” He knew Lotor and the princess were getting closer, but he didn’t think they were snow sculpture close.

“I thought her dress would make her the most structurally sound,” Lotor explained matter-of-factory.

“Oh,” that made a lot more sense than what Keith’s mind was providing.

“So what next?” Lotor asked.

“Next, we leave Allura here to guard the cows and go find something better to eat than food goo,” Keith said with a smirk.

They ended up finding a pizza place. Keith explained that there’s not a single dish that can be considered a representation for all of Earth, but pizza was pretty popular in a few places. Lotor loved it, eating over half of their large pizza on his own. He was not, however, a fan of soda. He couldn’t understand why a person would willingly drink such an acrid beverage. Keith wasn’t too happy that he’d had to pay for a drink that wouldn’t be finished, but at least he’d given Lotor the experience.

“So did you get enough of Human culture?” Keith asked that night as they settled back into the pod.

“For now,” was Lotor’s response.

**Author's Note:**

> This was so fun to write. I had asked for the same prompt in my request so it made me really happy to get to write it myself. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr: maddymaycreates  
> Or pillowfort: maddymay


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